Head-mounted display (HMD) devices are a class of near-to-eye display (NED) devices that have been recently introduced into the consumer marketplace to support visualization technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). An HMD device typically includes components such as light sources, microdisplay modules, controlling electronics, and various optics such as waveguides, lenses, beam splitters, etc. Some HMD devices are binocular so as to provide three-dimensional (3D) visualizations to their users. This is accomplished by concurrently providing, to the user's left and right eyes, separate images that are offset spatially but otherwise identical.
A major cause of user discomfort with binocular HMD devices is binocular misalignment, which is a misalignment between the separate images provided to the user's left and rights eyes when producing a 3D image. The required tolerances for binocular alignment in order to maintain user comfort are extremely difficult to achieve with low cost, lightweight hardware, which is highly desirable in a wearable consumer product such as HMD device. Additionally, binocular misalignment tends to increase over the life of an HMD product.